"We’re only halfway through this thing,” Johnson said after winning Saturday night’s race at Lowe’s Motor Speedway in North Carolina and extending his lead in the Chase standings. “So much can happen. Somebody at Martinsville can lose their brakes and clean you out. With the double file restart there’s going to be a lot of bumping and banging. Someone can get into you and knock a valve stem out or cut a tire.”

The next race in the Chase is at Martinsville Speedway in Virginia. Johnson has won two straight Chase races, at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana and Lowe’s Motor Speedway. Johnson has won the last two and five of the last six Cup races at Martinsville.

“I mean, it’s a nice points lead, but there’s no need for anybody to get too excited yet," Johnson said. "We’ve got good tracks ahead for us. So from a team standpoint, we’re excited and optimistic. But at the same time, there’s a lot of danger out there, and we’ve just got to be smart.”